Coffee Intake Linked With Lower Risk Of Liver Cancer

Researchers at the University of Southern California say people who drink at least a cup a day seem to have a lower risk of liver cancer compared to those who only indulge occasionally.

Researchers asked nearly 180,000 adults of different racial and ethnic backgrounds about their coffee drinking and other lifestyle habits.
Study participants have now been tracked for up to 18 years.

People who said they drank one to three cups of coffee a day had a 29 percent reduced risk of liver cancer compared to those who drank six cups or less each week.

And more was apparently better: People who regularly had more than four cups a day had a 42 percent reduced risk.

“Now we can add HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma) to the list of medical ailments, such as Parkinson’s disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke, that may be prevented by coffee intake,” study researcher V. Wendy Setiawan, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at USC, said in a statement. “Daily coffee consumption should be encouraged in individuals who are at high risk for HCC.”

The findings, which have not yet been published, were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.